'Incredible Burt Wonderstone' Lacks Magic, Critics Say

"The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" is playing at Gateway Cinemas 12 at 1:40, 4:45, 7:25 and 9:50 on Friday, March 15, and Saturday, March 16. 

The premise, courtesy of IMDb: 

When a street magician's stunt begins to make their show look stale, superstar magicians Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton look to salvage their act — and their friendship — by staging their own daring stunt.

What critics are saying:

There's nothing particularly smart or fun about this film. It can be silly but rarely in an inspired way. And with a cast this well-stocked with comedy talent, and direction by Don Scardino (an Emmy nominee for 30 Rock), you'd think just a few more laughs would not feel like such an impossible reach. — Marshall Fine, The Huffington Post

As a comedy about an egoist’s rise and fall, 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone' seems like a script that passed through Will Ferrell’s hands before it materialized in Carell’s in-box. Whereas Ferrell is usually likable and self-mocking enough to pull a sensitive rabbit out of his hat, Carell’s character never draws us closer, so the sleight-of-hand transformation is too obviously a trick. — Joe Williams, St. Louis Post Dispatch

A movie satirizing magicians — even rock 'n' roll hipster magicians — is only slightly more cutting edge than a movie mocking mimes or carnies. At times 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone' seems as creaky as old Rance Holloway.

But this is also one dark and wickedly funny comedy. — Richard Roeper, Chicago Tribune

This is a really lively, fun and high-spirited comedy. If you leave after half an hour. Stay a full hour, though, and you’re stuck in a death spiral of unfunniness as all the outrageous charm of the generational conflict between Carell’s Burt Wonderstone, a David Copperfield-style Vegas superstar, and Carrey’s upstart street magician Steve Gray (aka 'the Brain Rapist') gradually leaks out like the sticky red goo from a punctured cruise-ship dessert. — Andrew O’hehir, Salon.com

You would think that a film about magicians would have some magic to it. And you would think that a movie boasting such artful laughmasters as Steve Carell, Jim Carrey, Steve Buscemi and Alan Arkin would have some real comedic heft. In the case of 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,' you would be wrong on both counts. It is not a dreadful film. There are just enough laughs and clever moments to keep it north of the Adam Sandler line of comic ineptitude. But it is so wildly inconsistent that it always seems on the verge of completely falling apart and losing what little attachment it has to reality. — Charlie McCollum, San Jose Mercury News

"The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" is rated PG-13 and runs 100 minutes.

Barrow Patch wants your movie reviews! Come back and tell us in comments what you thought about "The Incredble Burt Wonderstone" and how many stars out of five you would give the film.

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